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BRITAIN will have a white Christmas, with Arctic blizzards bringing up to eight inches of snow.

Snow will blanket London, the South-east, Scotland, the North and eastern England as bitterly cold winds roar in, weathermen warned yesterday. Snowfalls on Christmas Day are now a “foregone conclusion”.

“It will be nightmarish – no one will escape a return of the cold weather,” said Jonathan Powell, senior forecaster for Positive Weather Solutions.

Unlike the snowfalls earlier in the month which crippled large parts of the country, the next wintry blast will also see gale-force 50mph winds blowing directly from the North Pole. These will bring the risk of giant snow drifts in some regions.

The Met Office has severe weather warnings in place for the whole of the UK this week.

They increase to high risk alerts for Thursday and Friday in the North, West and South-west.

Forecaster Helen Chivers said: “It doesn’t look good. There really is a severe weather front moving very quickly across the country, starting in the North and moving south on Thursday. By Thursday night the whole of the country will freeze solid, with snow and rain turning to ice really quickly.

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“It has prompted us to issue an early warning from midday on Thursday to midday on Friday. It is going to turn very cold and very icy, with the chance of snow everywhere. We are likely to see snow over several days.”

But Jonathan Powell added: “On the bright side, a white Christmas is on the cards for Scotland, the North-east, the east of the UK, and the South-east and London. At this stage I would say with some certainty this is now a foregone conclusion.”